Sacramento State Football Player’s Death Could Cost Doctor His Medical License

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento doctor could lose his license after the death of a Sacramento State football player following complications from surgery.

Dr. David Follette has already been sued by John Bloomfield’s family, but now the Medical Board of California is getting involved.

The suit filed last year by the defensive lineman’s parents alleges their son was under negligent care by Follette and others at Sacramento’s Mercy General Hospital after suffering a collapsed lung during a game.

They claim the doctors “failed to exercise the standard of care and skill ordinarily and reasonably required of medical doctors … by negligently performing surgery which” caused Bloomfield’s death.

Now the state medical board has filed a separate complaint alluding to complications from the initial surgery, saying of Follette, “Respondent failed to immediately return to the patient to the OR to determine the cause of this acute medical emergency.”

A second surgery, the complaint says, resulted in further complications, leaving Bloomfield in a vegetative state. A month later, his parents took him off life support.

CBS13 went to the doctor’s home to get his side of the story. He says he did nothing wrong.

“I was absolutely not negligent, there’s a lot of issues involved in the case,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate case; it’s impossible to do high-risk surgery at that level and not have unfortunate outcomes.”

The final decision, Follette says, is in the court’s hands.

In a statement, Mercy General hospital said, “We were made aware that a lawsuit was filed. In light of ongoing litigation, we decline to comment further.”